Cardinals Gather, Facing Varied Agendas

Attendees Seek to Navigate Range of Priorities, Geographical Loyalties as They Begin Conclave Tuesday to Pick New Pope

The conclave to elect the next pope will begin Tuesday. John Stoll reports from Rome on the preparations. Photo: AP.

By

John D. Stoll and

Stacy Meichtry

Updated March 11, 2013 8:15 p.m. ET

Eight years ago, cardinals from around the world gathered in the Sistine Chapel and swiftly picked a new pope who would continue on the same traditionalist path as his predecessor, John Paul II.

The papal conclave to elect a new head of the Catholic Church begins in Vatican City Tuesday and workers have been putting the finishing touches on the Sistine Chapel to make sure it's ready for the occasion.

Possible Popes

Review some of the men being talked about as Pope Benedict XVI's successor.

The 115 cardinals who begin voting here on Tuesday are caught in a crosscurrent of priorities and different geographical loyalties. Cardinals inside the Roman Curia—the governing body of the Vatican—want to maintain their status in Rome. Without a strong internal candidate, however, they are looking outside their ranks for a new leader.

Cardinals from major dioceses in the U.S., Europe and Latin America, meanwhile, have united in publicly calling for an overhaul in the governance of the Curia. But they are weighing myriad candidates, and they are split over where the papacy should focus its attention: in Europe, where the Church's influence has faded, or in Latin America, where it is still a dominant force.

So far, the overriding question of how the church—particularly the Curia—governs is topping the agenda after months of turmoil, including a leaks scandal that exposed waste and infighting at the Vatican.

"A divide exists between the cardinals who work outside of Rome and those who work in the Curia," Rev.
Thomas Reese,
an analyst on Catholic issues, said Monday.

"There is a need for the general administration of the church to be put in good order," retired Cardinal
Edward Egan
said in a recent interview. He noted that over the past half-century, the central organization of the Vatican had gotten too large, inefficient and lost focus on what is happening in local parishes.

Some cardinals have suggested restructuring the Curia's chain of command, breaking up the all-powerful post of secretary of state, which was held by Cardinal
Tarcisio Bertone
under Pope
Benedict XVI
.

One European cardinal said the Vatican needs to improve its internal communication by simply holding monthly meetings between the cardinals that head key departments on doctrine, clergy, bishops and other issues. Under Benedict, department heads met twice a year.

The challenges facing the 1.2-billion-member church, however, stretch far beyond Rome. Over the past century, nine pontiffs have overseen an evolution of the church beyond its traditional footholds in Europe and North America to increasing representation in Africa, Latin America and Africa.

Analysts, including Father Reese, have said this has led to the establishment of various camps among cardinals that don't always split among geographic lines.

ENLARGE

Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet in St. Peter's Square on Monday.
Abaca USA

Latin American cardinals, for instance, may unite around the feeling that they are underrepresented in Rome, but still disagree about many other issues. The 11 North American cardinals, meanwhile, have a relatively cohesive group, while 28 Italians are split into factions.

One issue cardinals can agree on: The need to get the conclave started as early as possible. Once all voting-age cardinals had arrived in Rome last week, a "great majority" swiftly voted in favor of starting the conclave on Tuesday, the Vatican said. The Tuesday start gives cardinals more time to deliberate in the Sistine Chapel and get home in time for Holy Week this month.

In the days leading up to the conclave, more than 150 cardinals, some of whom won't participate in the election because they are older than the 80-year-old voting cutoff, gathered in Rome to discuss the state of the church.

These men sat through 161 speeches on topics including the state of church finances, evangelization and the state of the Curia.

During breaks, dinners and other meetings over the past two weeks, cardinals spent significant time getting to know each other and studying the situation around the world.

But the next step could be the toughest as "the field is so wide open that it is difficult to pick even a handful of candidates who are on a shortlist," said Salvador Miranda, a Florida International University scholar who compiles data on the cardinals.

He said many past conclaves have begun with a pretty firm indication of what direction the College of Cardinals wanted to go, but "this time, it appears to be anyone's guess."

Cardinals attended Mass at St. Peter's Basilica before the start of the conclave Tuesday. Gabriel Buoys/AFP/Getty Images

For now, it is unclear if any of the candidates have a broad enough base of support to garner 77 votes, the two-thirds support needed to win.

Cardinals inside the Curia are drawn to Cardinal
Odilo Scherer
of São Paulo, said longtime Vatican analyst
Sandro Magister,
because he is a polyglot who worked inside the Curia for years before moving to a local diocese. At the same, Mr. Magister said, they hope Cardinal Scherer's experience in Latin America will help draw a broader following.

ENLARGE

Cardinals pushing for a new pope to clean house inside the Curia, the analysts said, are weighing candidates as diverse as Cardinals
Angelo Scola
of Milan,
Timothy Dolan
of New York and
Marc Ouellet,
the former Archbishop of Quebec who ran the department for bishop appointments under Pope Benedict.

The conclave is designed to take outside pressure off cardinals by sequestering them behind a wall of silence where communication with the outside world is essentially cut off, and much of the daily schedule is scripted.

Days begin, for instance, with a 6:30 a.m. breakfast, Mass at 8:15 a.m. and a first vote at 9:30. Lunch, another vote, vespers and an 8 p.m. dinner are also on the schedule.

Cardinals have been assigned rooms randomly in order to discourage the forging of blocs in living quarters. The election will begin Tuesday afternoon with one round of voting following an afternoon Mass.

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